Thread: Chicago Electric rotary tool

So I'm starting out restoring razors, and I want a cheap rotary tool to use with a buffing/polishing compound.

Well, I'm in my local Harbor Freight Tools store and I spot a $10, 30 piece rotary tool set. I'm thinking, "Hey, that'll save me some money, and if it breaks in 2 weeks, who'll care?"

Well, I pick it up and buy it without taking a thoughtful look at it. I take it home and open it up to find one of the most horrific designs I have ever seen.

The switch is in a terrible position, and, worse yet, is a toggle switch, and a switch that, out of the box, seems to require about 1 pound of force to toggle. That's right, if you drop this thing while it's on it'll grind, drill, or cut anything it lands on and keep going until you unplug it or gently pick up an active tool to switch it off. I have no doubt that people will be seriously maimed as a direct result of this design. (Though to be fair, I haven't seen a dremel in quite some time, so this may be standard)

I suppose if you were to mount it on a bench, press, or use a flexible shaft extension it wouldn't be too bad.
On the plus side, it does spin and so long as you respect it, it will work for you. The simple design (a motor, a switch, and an external AC adapter) means very little can go wrong with it. Though on the other hand, it obviously has fairly loose tolerances and so will wobble and vibrate a bit more than a higher quality unit. It only has one speed (16,000 RPM), and it's light and compact.


Worth the money, but you get what you pay for.

I bought a Chicago brand tool......once.

i think your last sentence sums it up and tends to be quite true,

"Worth the money, but you get what you pay for."

I don't think the person who bought the rotary tool has ever used it. The switch may take an act of congress to get it to turn off, however this thing is so weak it won't do much maiming. It will buff things if you let it build up speed then buff for a second then build up speed again. It will probably work great for razors, not too good for anything larger though.